Miramax executives are entangled in a legal battle with New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Entertainment over The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug release

Harvey Weinstein and Robert “Bob” Weinstein have filed new documents in court for a share of the profits after selling off their rights to the J.R.R. Tolkien book that inspired the films, Radar Online reported. According to the documents, the Weinstein brothers have claimed that New Line and Warner Bros. “have repudiated and refused to acknowledge their obligation to pay the rightful contingent compensation for the second and third installments of The Hobbit”. They are hoping to bring the ongoing arbitration over the matter to trial in a public court. The latest installment has made more than 140 million dollars since its release.

Not literally, but seeing the teaser of Superstar’s latest film, we did find a connection to his old film that was shelved due to financial issues in 2007

After watching the first teaser of Superstar Rajinikanth’s upcoming movie, Kochadaiiyaan, we were mighty impressed with the first teaser, especially since it is high on visual effects!

Much before Kochadaiiyaan happened, Soundarya R Ashwin, the Superstar’s younger daughter has been planning to immortalise the South Superstar using animation. Way back in 2007, Soundarya had planned Sultan the Warrior with Rajini, which was later shelved due to financial hurdles. The film was in production for several months and was a tie up between Soundarya’s Ocher Studios and Warner. The trailer of this film had created a lot of hoopla among Rajini fans. After Sultan the Warrior was dropped, Soundarya announced another film called Rana on similar lines. On the mahurat of Rana, Rajinikanth fell ill due to which the film could never see the day of light.

When we saw the trailer of Kochadaiiyaan, we could help but compare it to the trailer of Sultan the Warrior. When we looked at it carefully, we found quite a few similarities as our in-house expert pointed out. The sword used by Rajini used in Kochadaiiyaan is similar to the one used in Sultanthe Warrior. In the latest version, though the character of Rajinikanth is polished one, does look like his character in the 2007 flick. The background used and the palace used in Rajini’s latest film teaser has striking similarities with the 2007 flick. Though there seems to be some connection between the two, the teaser of Kochadaiiyaan is nothing less than mind-blowing!

Have a look at both the videos, and tell us what you feel BollywoodLifers.

The King Khan dreams of making it big as Karna, the warrior prince from the epic tale of love and valour. But is he fighting a losing battle trying to capture the story for the big screen?

What’s Shahrukh Khan’s favourite name these days? (Hint: It’s not Katrina Kaif or Priyanka Chopra!). Well, it is Karna, the character from the Mahabharata. We recently woke up to the news of Baadshah Khan planning a trilogy on the epic. Looks likes Shahrukh is addicted to SFX these days and taking the Mahabharata to the next level, techwise, is riding high on his priority list these days. So are we happy about this? After Ra.One and Don 2, we’re not sure. “I think it would be fantastic, the world’s greatest film. It would be Mahabharata made like Lord of the Rings – a triology. The world would come to see it. The inherent story is one of the most interesting in the world. There are amazing superheroes, 20 times better than X-Men – gods of sun and wind who can make fire at will. There are monsters, ghosts…it’s really awesome,” SRK says, sounding gung-ho about it.

But talking is not the only thing that Shahrukh is doing now. He is planning to introduce the concept of Karna at the Berlin film festival next month, hoping to rope in partners for his venture; for this, he has put his SFX team at Red Chillies to work. So how much will this big project cost? Buzz suggests that the budget will go over Rs 200 crores, which will make it one of the costliest ventures in Bollywood. And Shahrukh is planning to hold talks with 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros to co-produce it. What’s more, SRK is even planning to rope in some international actors for his epic drama. Well, with such big names involved, we hope he gets the script and effects right this time. We surely are not looking forward to one more super-hyped though super-hollow project. Right?

Lollywood’s most expensive and slick film is all set to release on Valentine’s Day, and it’s not about love

That the Pakistani film industry is in seemingly irreversible decline is a well-known fact by now, dominated as it is by our Bollywood offerings. However, every once in a while, our neighbours pull off a stunning cinematic coup. For example, Shoaib Mansoor’s sensitive take on Islam in the modern age, Khuda Kay Liye, was a massive success on both sides of the border. And now, come Valentine’s Day, Warner Bros will release Bilal Lashari’s film on counter-terrorism, Waar. Alas, only in Pakistan for now with maybe a few other international playdates. At $8 million (that’s Rs 42 crore to you and me), the film is easily Pakistan’s biggest film of all time. And it stars Shaan, who Indian audiences will remember from Khuda Kay Liye and is Pakistan’s Shahrukh, Salman and Aamir all rolled into one. The film also stars Shamoon Abbasi, who is a popular television actor.

Watch trailer below:

[jwplayer mediaid="69035"]

What’s notable about Waar on viewing the trailer is how slickly the film is made. It’s on par with any terrorism action drama Hollywood can churn out, superior to the average Bollywood film, technically speaking, and several notches above the farrago that is Lollywood. The gritty tone is set when Shaan intones in the opening voiceover: “Who is a Pakistani? He whose death nobody mourns, and now, not even themselves.” The film’s writer and producer Hassan Waqas Rana penned these brutally honest lines. Apart from the slick cinematography and the restrained acting, the reason Waar looks so good is that it is shot at rarely seen locations in Islamabad, Lahore and the rugged terrain of the Northern Areas besides Turkey.

Since Abbasi must have his say, here you are: “I wouldn’t say that the film is Lollywood-ish, since it has nothing to do with Lollywood. It is totally international cinema, and the stunts and the dialogue delivery is more akin to Hollywood.” Abbasi who plays the main villain is also full of praise for his director saying that Lashari shot carefully and at an unhurried pace. He was also open to suggestions from his actors.

Before we get carried away in Waar love, let us also consider an unfortunate aspect. Shaan, for all his acting talent, delivers most of his lines in English. We know from Bollywood experience that most South Asian actors, though they speak English off screen fumble when speaking in English in front of the camera. Aamir Khan in Dhobi Ghat is a case in point. And lest anybody point out Amitabh Bachchan’s English-language turn in The Last Lear, let’s not forget that his character in the film was that of a bombastic Shakespearean actor, so he was necessarily theatrical. Let’s see how his cameo in The Great Gatsby shapes up. And the less said about Anil Kapoor’s extra’s role in MI4 the better. Salman Khan, of course, puts on a weird English accent that sounds like Italo-American-Bandra illiterate. Only Irrfan Khan manages within his limitations. And just so that Rahul Bose gets to see his name in print once a decade – he doesn’t count since he is a complete non-entity.

Cineswami landed in Mumbai on Wednesday evening after a trip to Israel for the excellent Jerusalem Film Festival and was shocked but not surprised by the images of the latest round of bomb blasts unspooling on every television screen

On Thursday morning, the good citizens of Mumbai woke up and set off to work as per normal routine, their spirits dampened only by the incessant and heavy rain. The spirit of Mumbaikars has correctly been hailed and needs to be lauded again and again, but the bare fact of the matter is that this can’t go on. To return to Israel for a moment, I was stopped and frisked very often and I had to carry my passport at all times to prove my identity. While it is too much to ask for Israeli levels of security in Mumbai that has a population of 21 million, compared to Jerusalem’s tiny 800,000, is it too much to ask for a national intelligence service that is as good as Mossad, so that these attacks can be nipped in the bud?

There is a semblance of security in Mumbai malls that house multiplexes, in the sense that there are cursory bag checks and pat downs at the entrances. However, in many of these malls, if you choose to drive in and park at the basement car park, the vehicle does get checked, but not the people in the vehicle. In theory then, a terrorist with bombs on his or her person can simply drive in, park, plant a bomb in a cineplex and drive away. Thus every cinegoer in the country is under threat.

Meanwhile, over in film land, it is business as usual. The blasts are old news. The focus is now on the wrangle between Warner Bros and multiplexes over the new Harry Potter film, the last in the franchise. Anticipating huge box office, Warner Bros wants a 55% share of the first week’s collections while the multiplexes are adamant on the loot being split 50:50. No doubt there will be an 11th hour resolution and the legion of Potter fans will be able to see the film in comfortable surroundings.

And over at the decrepit old Naaz building, where all the decrepit old distributors hang out, speculation is rife that Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is a bit thanda. But one distributor, who shall remain unnamed, raves about the film saying that Spain has never been exploited like this. Sadly, he is related to the producer Ritesh Sidhwani, so that has to be taken with a salt mine. The reality will unfold soon enough when you, the audience decide for yourself.

Meanwhile, let us mourn the innocent people who lost their lives in the blasts and while enjoying the confections served up at the cinema every Friday, let us revisit sensitive filmic looks at the blasts in the form of Anurag Kashyap’s Black Friday and Nishikant Kamat’s Mumbai Meri Jaan.